A Peppermint Winter
by Golden.Starlight
Summary: Chapter 3: Elated, was the word that Mikan thought of when the holiday season approached once more. Not only that, but the mere fact of seeing her boyfriend again, after a few months, was just enthralling. This is the final chapter of PM, another 5 years later.
1. At 6 Years Old

**A Peppermint Winter**

Greetings! We're back with another story for you all. As the title says, it's about Christmas, so I'm trying my best to write a light story. Please read, and enjoy. :)  
–Sakura-tan.

**Writer: **Sakura-tan  
**Editor: **Kyoko-tan**  
Disclaimer: **If we owned Gakuen Alice, we wouldn't be writing a fanfiction about it. ._.;; (Higuchi Tachibana owns Gakuen Alice, not us!) And also, the title is from a song sung by _Owl City_.

**Summary: **Perfect temperature and fresh snow on the ground makes one think it can't get any better. However, the fact that it's on Christmas Day makes it a whole lot better. Featuring Natsume's family and a bunch of others, how they spent this day and who they meet.

**A couple of notes: **Thank you Kyoko-tan for the epic title, which by the way, we do not own. _Owl City owns this title_. :)

Now, on with the story!

* * *

It's a nice sunny day outside. The right amount of sun, with the blue sky and not one cloud makes one think that this winter can't possibly get any better. However, what _does_ make it better is the fresh snow that is lying on the ground and on the bare branches of the trees.

Not only that, but being able to enjoy it makes this day even better. Yes, it's Christmas! Having all of this on Christmas Day can't be wasted.

* * *

"Oh my goodness, it's such a nice day out!" A woman cheers inside her house, as she is looking outside to her backyard. "Dear, get off your bed and come take a look!"

"Yes Kaoru," the husband replies, rubbing his eyes, and then once he saw what his wife was telling him to see, he stopped and looked outside, astonished. "Wow, it really is nice outside."

"Yeah, we should make a large buffet for breakfast this morning for celebration of the great weather," Kaoru suggests, "but we should ask the—"

"MOM! DADA!" A child's voice is suddenly heard down the hallway, and footsteps were heard soon after.

Kaoru and her husband sweatdrops.

"Well, at least that answers that," Koaru quickly says to her spouse before the young girl runs into their room, coming to a halt when she's right in front of her parents.

Kaoru picks her up into her arms. She was five years old already, but she was surprisingly light.

"Aoi, quiet down a bit please, it's still morning, and—"

"Sorry mommy, but did you look outside? It's really nice out!" Aoi blabs on as she is pointing to the window behind her parents. The dad was about to reply until a boy comes into the room.

"Be quiet Aoi, you just woke me up," the other child of age six says in an annoyed tone as he was rubbing his eyes, "you see this all the time."

"But we always have school, so we can't go outside to play in it."

"Who cares?"

"I do!" Aoi rebuts, and then pulls on her mom's pajama shirt.

"Mom, can we play outside today?"

"Sure honey. How about you invite your brother?" Koaru suggests.

"I don't think he'll want to play."

"Natsume, why don't you play with your sister outside? Your dad and I have to clean the house and prepare the food for the guests tonight."

"… Fine." Natsume leaves the room and goes into his.

"Yay!" Aoi shouts as she jumps for joy. She then skips down into her room to get ready for breakfast.

"Natsume is such a good brother," the dad concludes.

"Yep, and Aoi is a well behaved little sister. Aren't we so blessed?"

"Of course," the dad remarks as he kisses his wife on the cheeks, and they resume to get changed as well.

* * *

"Hhaaaa~" Aoi subconsciously makes the sound of astonishment as she marveled at what the family made for breakfast.

"Yeah, it's amazing," the dad follows suit.

Each person in their family was assigned a serving to make. Kaoru was assigned eggs and bacon (and everything else involving the pan) while her spouse was in charge of making the mini-sandwiches (and pretty much everything involving cutting and using sharp utensils). Aoi got the job of setting the table (with the help of her family when she needs it), and Natsume was in charge of getting the cereal and preparing the drinks that each family member wanted.

"Let's dig in!" Aoi shouts as she is just about to reach for an egg with her plate and chopsticks.

The rest of the family does the same afterwards.

* * *

After breakfast, the whole family pitches in to help clean up as fast as possible, and gets ready to go outside, well, get ready for Aoi and Natsume to go outside while their parents got ready for the celebration they were going to have at their house.

Kaoru and her husband gets Aoi and Natsume (mostly just Aoi though) dressed for outside.

When they were done, Aoi runs outside, dragging Natsume along. This is when Natsume realizes how strong and fast his little sister has become.

His train of thought is interrupted when all of a sudden, he feels a jolt, then comes crashing into the snow, suddenly on top of his sister, who had faceplanted into the snow.

"fpfgbff!" is what Natsume hears her sister, who was under him, mumble while her head was in the snow. Natsume gets off her immediately.

"Smart one," Natsume says as Aoi gets up, wiping the snow off her face.

"I must've gotten too excited…" Aoi confesses while she sweatdrops.

"This is why you don't run outside."

"Yeah, sorry about that, but look, packing snow!" Aoi exclaims.

"Great. Perfect to…" Natsume picks up snow, puts it in a ball, and sneers at Aoi.

Aoi, sensing this, backs away. For a five-year old, she's pretty smart.

"Don't you dare hit me with it, or or or…" Aoi looks around while thinking of what to do to defend herself. She then thinks of an idea, and picks up snow, and rolls it into a ball. She crosses her arms, and does a small evil laugh.

"Hee hee hee," Aoi laughs. Before she could do anything else though, a snowball comes flying onto her jacket. (Natsume wouldn't hit her in the head, or she'd get hurt, and he'd get in trouble.)

Aoi puffs her cheeks and attempts to throw the snowball that was in her hand. It fell not far from her. Upset, she was on the verge of tears when a hand comes in contact with hers.

Natsume was standing right behind her, and had his hands on hers.

"Here," Natsume makes a snowball and puts it in her hand. Then, he helps her throw it. The ball lands much farther down their backyard than her first attempt.

"Hhaaa," Aoi's face light up. All of a sudden, she hugs Natsume.

Natsume, completely not expecting this, falls onto the floor with Aoi still hugging him. He tries to get up, but the fact that Aoi was hugging him prevents him from getting up.

Irritated, he wants to push her off of him, but then he realizes that Aoi was really happy, and that she really appreciated it. He decides that he should give in just this one time, to make her think that he does care about her… because it's true. He decides to hug her back, just for a moment —

— One moment their parents didn't miss.

When they were waiting for the water to boil in the kettle (the modern model), they decided to look outside to see how they were doing, and they saw Natsume helping Aoi. Right away, they got their camera, and took pictures. They were surprised to see Natsume hug Aoi, and that's when, yes, they took a lot of pictures, enough to make stop-motion pictures.

Natsume and Aoi play for a while longer, making snowmen (they decided that quantity is better than quality), snow angels and making other things out of snow, like a chair and an igloo."

Around lunch time, they decide to return to their house.

When they come in, they are greeted by the nice smell of food: rice, vegetables and meat, combined with hot soup.

Aoi and Natsume take off their boots, jackets, gloves and hats (while Aoi had to take off her snowpants and scarf, as she had extra layers on).

They sit down at the table as they see that their parents finish cleaning up the counters and the stove. Both awaits for their parents to be seated at the table so that they can start eating.

Aoi had her hand around the soup bowl to warm her frosty hands from being outside.

Once their parents sit down, they start eating and talking.

"When are the guests coming mommy?" Aoi asks.

"At around 3-ish?"

"What time is it now?"

"It's 12:25, so in…" Kaoru thinks for a couple seconds to calculate how much time left until they start arriving, "2 hours and 35 minutes."

"I can't wait for the party then!"

Natsume can't help but think why his sister didn't even bother to ask the more obvious question, so he asks instead.

"Who are the guests?"

"Finally, someone asked that question!" Kaoru exclaims. "Ruka's family, of course is invited, and there's another couple more families that you haven't met before. They both have girls the same age as you, Natsume."

"Great," Natsume mumbles. Now he knows that he isn't going to enjoy this party that his parents decided to have at their house.

In the past years, they always had it with only Ruka's family. However, they had to cancel it last year because Ruka's family had to go visit his grandparents overseas. It was a family emergency—obviously, they wouldn't tell them last minute that they weren't able to come, unless it was a very important circumstance.

As a result, his parents decided to have a larger celebration this year — the more the merrier, they said—since the weather was predicted to be marvelous, and all three families were available.

"Don't worry Natsume, it'll be fun. Remember to include your sister however."

"Yeah yeah," Natsume replies as he sips some of his soup.

"Oh, and can you two clean your rooms before they come?"

"Aww, mommy, I don't want to… why can't you clean it?" Aoi whines.

"Just because all of our rooms are connected doesn't mean that I should clean it," Kaoru explains to her kids.

In their house, they have five bedrooms, one is the master bedroom (where Kaoru and her spouse sleeps), a door that connects to Aoi bedroom, and another door on the adjacent side of the master bedroom that is connected to Natsume's bedroom.

The other two empty rooms are for when they grow up. When that time comes, they are planning on renovating the two connecting rooms and make a guest room. Currently, the two empty rooms are serving as guest rooms.

"Aww, fine…" Aoi obliges.

"The faster you clean your rooms, the faster you can go back to playing outside," Kaoru persuades, "and that is all you have to do, oh and if you want to help us wrap their gifts!"

Kaoru knows that Aoi enjoys wrapping gifts. Natsume doesn't have a problem doing chores. People say that he's a really obedient child. Adding his quietness and his above-average-than-his-age-IQ to that aspect, he's not that hard to deal with.

"Yay! Okay, deal," Aoi responds as she puts a spoonful of rice into her mouth happily, and grins at her parents.

Thus, their day went like that after lunch.

* * *

Soon, it was time to greet the guests.

The sound of the doorbell was heard.

Kaoru and her husband goes to open the door, and greets the first family.

Natsume and Aoi are quickly trying to finish up the last-minute chores they were doing, and that includes hanging up their jackets that they always leave on the railings where the stairs were. (In the end, they did help their family as much as they could, even though they only had to clean their bedrooms). They were curious at which family is at the door first.

"Welcome Ruka! How are you doing today?" They hear their mom greet the guests.

"Good, thank you" Ruka, a very close friend of Natsume replies in a polite manner, "is Natsume around?"

"Of course, he's by the coat closet," Kaoru answers back.

"Thank you," he replies before he takes off his winter clothing and meets Natsume.

"Hey," Ruka greets Natsume.

"Hey," welcomes Natsume.

"Ruru-kun!" Aoi shouts as she walks up to Ruka.

"… Hello Aoi," he replies, with a "what is with this nickname?" smile.

"She's been trying to make nicknames for everyone lately," Natsume says bluntly as he hangs up the last jacket.

"It's true," Aoi adds, "I call my daddy 'dada!'"

"I see," Ruka responds and sweatdrops.

"Let's go to the family room," Natsume changes the subject.

"Sure."

"Okay!" Aoi jumps after she replies. "Yosh!" She raises a fist in the air and runs down the hallway to the family room. Ruka pulls Natsume and runs after Aoi.

'_It seems I'm getting dragged a lot today_,' Natsume thinks as he sighs, and just lets his friend pull him down the hallway.

They didn't notice that the other two families were already here, and saw all of what just happened.

"I think you two will get along great with them," Kaoru says to the two young girls, while her husband is talking to their parents.

"Yeah, they look fun to play with!" One girl shouts as she runs down the hallway, dragging her friend down the hallway like how Ruka did to Natsume, except more aggressively.

"Stop pulling me Mikan," the girl that is being pulled by her friend says, with irritation evidently in her voice.

"Sorry Hotaru, but I really want to meet them!" Mikan halts when she sees the three others making contraptions out of Lego.

Aoi, sensing this, looks in their direction, and waves as her face lights up with a large smile.

"Come join!"

Mikan, happy that her and her friend are invited to play with them, joins to make the large car that they are making at the moment.

"I'm Mikan, and this is my friend Hotaru. We are both six years old," she introduces, and then looks at the two boys on the other end of the room, one that is looking at them with a smile, and the one that seems to be deeply concentrated on what they are making.

"I'm Ruka, this is Natsume," Ruka says, "Welcome! We're building a car; you can help if you want."

"O-kay!" Mikan and Hotaru start helping to build.

After a while, Mikan then takes another piece of Lego and is about to put it on the top when someone's hand stops her.

"Eh?" Mikan looks at the person who is holding her hand. It is the boy-that-was-so-deeply-concentrated-on-the-building", who went by the name of Natsume.

"It goes there, weirdo."

Mikan feels insulted.

"Okay, sorry, and don't call me weirdo. That's mean," Mikan says to Natsume as he moves farther away from her, towards the rear end of the car.

"… Fine, annoying girl."

"Say that again," Mikan says in a taunting voice.

Ruka and Aoi looks at the arguing pair with an "uh-oh, this doesn't look good" expression, while Hotaru had an impassive look, but at the same time, seems to be a bit concerned.

"Annoying Girl."

"WHY YOU—" Mikan doesn't finish her sentence when she stomps towards him.

"Polka-dots, you're going to tear the house down with your stomping and talking."

"NA-NA-NATSUME!" Mikan shouts as she pulls onto his collar, while Natsume has this emotionless look on his face.

"Mikan!" A woman's voice is heard. Mikan knows right away who this voice is.

"Mo-o-m," Mikan says rigidly, "it's not what you think."

"Mikan, I thought we taught you to be courteous and have good manners!"

"But but but, Natsu—"

"Apologize immediately and get ready for dinner, all of you," Yukihira adds onto his wife's comment.

"Yes daddy," Mikan replies.

"Yuka, Yukihira, is there a problem?" Kaoru asks as she approaches where Mikan's parents are standing.

"We are just getting the kids to get ready to eat," Yuka and Yukihira replies as they walk away with Kaoru to the dining room.

Mikan was about to apologize to Natsume until she recalls what he said:

"_Polka-dots, you're going to tear the house down with your stomping and talking."_

"Wait, why polka-do—" Mikan finally understands why he called her that and is now furious.

"NATSUME, YOU MORON!" Mikan yells.

"You still haven't apologized yet," Natsume replies with a smirk on his face.

Mikan was about to retaliate until Kaoru's voice calls them.

"Kids, dinner time!"

Mikan realizes that she's hungry and wants food. She completely disregards what she and Natsume were arguing about.

"Let's go eat!" Mikan says with a large smile, while Natsume's eyebrow twitches.

'… _What type of girl is this?_' Natsume thinks to himself.

Mikan and Aoi take the lead to dining room, with Ruka, Natsume and Hotaru following close behind.

* * *

Natsume, Ruka and Aoi stare at Mikan in awe and disgust (okay fine only Natsume stares in disgust).

Mikan is throwing food down into her mouth so quickly and fast, that of course they would react like that. Hotaru is just simply used to it, so she disregards how impolite her friend is being.

Natsume on the other hand, is wondering how she isn't fat yet. It seems that she can eat more than her parents. Speaking of her parents, he wonders why they haven't scolded her yet. He looks at them, and sees them happily talking with the other parents. He can tell where Mikan got her genes from: the mom was politely eating while the dad is smiling and eating everything as well. Not as fast and much more polite, but he looks like the outgoing type.

Natsume just facepalms.

Ruka just sweatdrops when he notices Natsume staring at them and facepalming.

Then Ruka looks at Hotaru's family. They seem very conservative, and polite, almost the complete opposite of her friend's family. However, it seems that the parents don't mind their differences. They are all chatting and eating happily.

The kids can learn something or two.

"Hotaru, can I have your octopus?" Mikan asks her friend.

"No, weirdo."

"Hotaruuuu," Mikan gives her the puppy dog look.

"Uhhm, Mikan—" Ruka is interrupted by Natsume's voice.

"A weirdo and a food hogger."

"Am not! " Mikan shouts at him, slamming her fist against on her plate accidentally. The food lands across the table, onto Aoi's head.

Thankfully it was just a piece of bread.

"MIKAN!" Yuka yells at her.

Mikan, realizing what she had done, immediately went to Aoi.

"SORRY!" Mikan does that repeatedly while she bows continuously.

"I-it's fine, Mi-Mikan," Aoi says between her chuckles.

"Sakura…" a deep boy's voice is heard.

Mikan, slowly turns around, her body completely rigid from that voice.

"Na-Natsume?" Mikan slowly says, frozen at the voice and the aura that Natsume was emitting.

"You annoying polka-dot underwear-ed girl, I'm gonna get you…"

Mikan, finally getting what is going on, runs away from Natsume. Natsume's bad aura disappears. Natsume sits back down onto his seat, and eats while the people sweatdrops.

Ruka and Aoi starts laughing, while Hotaru was on the verge of laughters too. Some of their parents are confused, while some are laughing along with Ruka.

"Mikan shouldn't mess with a sibling that has an overprotective brother," Kaoru comments.

"You can say that again," Yuka remarks. "At least that taught her a lesson of having good table manners."

Mikan, observing everything, hides behind a pillar, feels proud of loosening the atmosphere, completely disregarding the fact that Natsume tricked her just now. She knew that this party was going to be fun. Thinking that she could go back, she went back into the dining room.

* * *

When everyone has finished eating, they all pitch in to clean up and put everything in the sink.

Now, it was time for everyone to exchange gifts and go home.

"Here's a gift, Ruka," Mikan says as she gives him a gift.

"And here's yours," Ruka responds.

Hotaru goes up to Natsume and hands him a small gift.

"Merry Christmas," Hotaru says as she gives a small smile.

"You too," Natsume replies as he gives her a small gift too.

"Mikan is going to grow up a dense person, I can tell," Hotaru advises Natsume.

However, Natsume doesn't seem to get it. "How does that have to do with me?" He counters.

"…"

Ruka approaches and breaks the awkward silence, and hands a gift to Hotaru.

"Merry Christmas!" He smiles the whole time.

"Thanks," Hotaru answers.

Natsume, wanting to get back at Hotaru, says to her:

"Be nice to Ruka or I'll hurt you."

"Like you'll hurt me."

Natsume is about to retaliate when he is _also_ interrupted. Not by Ruka, but by Mikan.

"Natsume, Merry Christmas! Oh and also, your house is really nice," Mikan says as she smiles a kind and gentle smile.

"… Thanks."

"Ehh, Natsume said 'thanks'? I never he'd—"

"Be quiet Aoi."

Mikan chuckles.

"You two seem to have a nice relationship..."

"Mikan, Hotaru, Ruka, it's time to go!" Kaoru yells as their parents are dressed to leave.

"Coming!" The mentioned children reply. They quickly dress, getting ready to leave.

* * *

Hotaru and Ruka have already left, and it just leaves Mikan's family.

It seems that Natsume's and Mikan's parents have a lot to talk about, as they just met each other.

"Bye, Natsume and Aoi, can't wait to see you again!" Mikan shouts as their family was finally leaving the house.

"Bye!" Aoi shouts, as Natsume just gives a small smile, that Mikan barely notices.

Their dad closes the door. The family starts cleaning up and getting ready for bed.

As the parents tuck their children to sleep, the parents ask their kids how they thought of the party and kiss them on the foreheads. When Aoi is getting tucked in by her dad, Kaoru goes into Natsume's room.

"How did you like the party? Did you enjoy it?" She asks her son.

Silence arouses in the room.

"It was… fun," Natsume responds quietly after the long wait.

Kaoru's face lights up.

"I'm glad it was," she replies as she kisses him on the forehead.

"Good night."

"Good night," Natsume answers as his mom closes the door.

"I hope to meet the weird girl again," Natsume mumbles really quietly as he drifts off to sleep.

_-おわり-_

* * *

_Hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are always appreciated. Please read and review our other stories, as well as visit our homepage/blog (link to blog is on homepage)._

_Thanks for reading, and Happy Holidays. _

–_Sakura-tan._

_PS: did you notice my reference of "Dada" at the beginning and Aoi mentioning it afterwards? _


	2. At 11 Years Old

**A Peppermint Winter**

Yo! And I'm back with an unexpected Part 2 of this supposed-to-be-oneshot! I thought that it'd be nice to create a sequel to the previous chapter, to rejuvenate and freshen up my Gakuen Alice fanfiction writing skills. I haven't written in forever...

Read and Enjoy!

- Sakura-tan

**Writer: **Sakura-tan  
**Editor: **Kyoko-tan**  
Disclaimer: **Gakuen Alice doesn't belong to me; neither does the title, which is based on the song "A Peppermint Winter" by Owl City.

_Another winter holiday gathering comes once again—this time, in Mikan's house. A light-hearted two-shot centering around Natsume's and Mikan's families as they meet once again, five years later._

* * *

"Mom, when are they coming oveeeer?" An overly-excited Mikan asks her mom desperately, holding onto the hem of her mother's pyjama sleeve.

"Mikan. They're not coming over until this evening."

"What time?"

"Twelve hours from now!" Yuka hollers back, as an animated vein on her forehead twitches. "Mikan, it's 6 in the morning!" She exasperates. "Shouldn't you go back to bed and sleep? You won't be able to stay up late tonight."

"_Neither will your father and I…" _she quickly adds mentally. She doesn't even bother opening her eyes. She can just tell that her husband is still sound asleep, being the deep sleeper he is.

"But I'm not tiiiiired!"

"Go. to. bed. now." If Yuka wasn't half-asleep, she'd glare at her.

Mikan looks at her mom, and sighs in defeat.

"Fine." Mikan stands up from the side of her parents' bed, and walks out the door, closing it silently as she leaves the room.

Yuka looks at the retreating figure and sighs. She slumps back into the bed. Suddenly, from beside her, she feels movement.

"Was that Mikan?" Her husband mumbles groggily, as he shifts in their bed.

"Yeah. She was asking when Kaoru and company are coming over."

"Well, I knew that it was bound to happen eventually," Yukihira gives a small chuckle as he gets comfortable in the bed once again, and lulls back to sleep.

"What do you mean by that?" Yuka grunts to the sleeping man beside her, before she herself relaxes and falls back asleep.

* * *

"Mikan! Where are you?" Yuka calls on her as she cuts some vegetables for tonight's party.

"Here~!" Yuka hears a reply. Not long after, the sounds of feet thumping quickly down the steps are prominently heard.

"Mom, where are the gifts?"

"Your dad has them honey," she answers, continuing on her task at-hand.

"No, he said that you bought them."

Yuka pauses momentarily from her vegetable-cutting task, and looks at Mikan, who was innocently looking at her.

"No, I told your dad to buy the presents last week..."

"Didn't you say that you would get them after picking Mikan up from school?" A monotone voice joins in on the confusion aroused.

After much contemplation (and staring at her husband), a light bulb lights up in Yuka's head. She realizes that the situation that her husband explained did _indeed_ happen.

"Oh right. I was going to call you before picking Mikan up to get the presents after all, since I was bringing her to the dentist that day." Shortly after Yuka voiced that, she starts panicking.

"What'll we do? We haven't bought anything yet for Aoi and Natsume!"

"Calm down mom/Yuka!" Mikan and Yukihira (respectively) reassures simultaneously. The dad looks at his daughter, who is looking as innocent as ever. She glances at her parents with a huge grin, acting as if it isn't a big deal.

"Dad and I can just go to buy the gifts now, while you continue cutting the vegetables."

The parents take a quick glimpse at each other, the lady with the eyebrow raised, and the man nodding in approval.

"Okay Mikan. You and your dad can go get the presents."

"I know exactly what Natsume and Aoi would want!"

"That's good, Mikan," as Yuka puts down her knife, takes her apron off and ushers her to go get dressed.

"I'm gonna ask dad if we can buy some Howallon when we get back too!"

Yuka can't help but facepalm as they walk up the stairs to Mikan's room.

* * *

"Dad! I think Natsume would like that!"

"... a black cat doll?"

"Yup! See, it has these cute red eyes... just like him!"

Yukihira gives a light chuckle at her daughter's remark. (In actuality, he was resisting to burst out laughing at how his beloved daughter stated her sentence. He knows that she just means that the doll's red eyes reminded her of Natsume's.)

"So how about it dad?"

"Uhm, I don't think he's a fan of dolls. I think that's a bit more on Aoi's favourites than his."

"Okay. We'll get the doll for Aoi then!" Mikan shouts with a wide grin as she hands her dad the plushie to buy.

"Su—whoa." Yukihira's eyes widen at the price tag. As Mikan is preoccupied with other toys, he secretly and gently puts the doll back on the shelf with the others.

"_Sorry Mikan, but we'd have no food tonight with the price of _that_ doll..."_

* * *

"Mom! We're home!" Yuka hears Mikan's cry as the sound of the garage door is heard shortly after.

"Welcome home! What did you guys buy?"

"It's a secret!" Mikan replies with a gleeful voice. "You'll see when I make Natsume open it. I can't wait to see his reaction!"

"Yep, he'll _definitely_ love it," Yukihira says as they meet Yuka in the laundry room. He ruffles his child's hair before proceeding upstairs. Mikan's smile doesn't falter as Yuka sees her daughter run to their Christmas tree, and blends their presents with the ones they received.

"Perfect," she hears Mikan mutter to herself with confidence.

"Brilliant, Mikan," Yuka says, clearly proud of her daughter.

In what had felt like months to Mikan, they finally hear the sound of footsteps outside their door, and the jingle of their doorbell.

* * *

The joyful laugh of the parents was very contagious to their kids who are, of course, laughing with their friends.

"It's not funny!" Mikan cries.

... Okay, sort of.

"Yes it was," a calm—yet teasing—voice replies bluntly. "I told you to watch out."

"No you didn't!"

"You probably didn't Hotaru-san," a gentle prince-like voice answers, clearly trying to defend the victim.

"What makes you think that?" The calm voice from before seems to have a small hit of irritation.

"You're not much of the... talkative type."

"And you're not much of the smart type."

"Hey, that's mean Hotaru!"

"Shut it, stupid."

"Hey! Natsume, why aren't you saying anything?"

An interval of silence is given off as they wait for the said person to give a response.

"Natsume-kun?" Mikan looks at the red-eyed boy, who seems to be glancing off into space. Mikan shakes her hand in front of his face.

"What. " Natsume glares at her.

Mikan immediately can tell by his facial expression that he doesn't want to be bothered. However, being Mikan, she speaks her mind, while the two other friends watch the scene being played.

"Are you okay?"

"..." Natsume eyes her for a small moment, before sharply turning his head back to where he was glancing at before, his arms lay on top of his folded legs.

Before Mikan can say anything, her best friend stops her.

"Mikan, just let him be," Hotaru says swiftly.

"Uhm, y-yeah," she replies one more time before restoring the light-hearted atmosphere once more, the thought of her friend being left out still lingering in her mind the whole while.

* * *

"_I'm so sorry Natsume! I didn't mean to!"_

"_..."_

"_Natsume, he's really sorry about what he did. Here, he can—"_

"_It's fine."_

Natsume pokes at a piece of vegetable with his fork as he absent-mindlessly glances at the scene around him at the dinner table.

Ruka and Mikan are sitting beside him, while Aoi is next to Ruka, and Hotaru next to Mikan. The parents are scattered all around, with Yuka on one end of the round table, and Yukihira across from her. His mom is next to Yuka, and the dad next to Mikan's dad.

His thoughts are interrupted as he feels himself being nudged on the side.

"Natsume? You're sorta... killing the vegetables," he hears his best friend inform him. He looks at his plate in front of him, to see that the vegetable completely mashed up.

"..." Natsume puts down his fork quietly, hoping to not make a scene. However, with Mikan around, that is simply impossible to accomplish.

"Natsume! What are you doing?" Mikan questions in a moderate tone. This somehow brings the whole table's attention towards him.

If he can facepalm right now, he would.

Instead, he just responds with a classical answer.

"I'm not hungry," he utters as he leaves the dinner table.

"_Natsume? What are you doing? You're not going to say anything?"_

"_... What am I supposed to say?"_

"_We can hurt him for ya! He ruined your—"_

"_It doesn't matter anymore."_

Mikan stares at the back of one of her friends, concern written all over her face. When she is about to stand up and walk after him, she feels a tug on her arm. She glances at the blond boy.

"Just let him be, Mikan," Ruka responds with a quiet, gentle voice.

She casts her eyes at Ruka, then back at Natsume, before calming down and picking her fork back up again.

"Mhmm..."

* * *

"_Are you okay Natsume?"_

"_... Yes."_

"_Are you sure? You don't seem like it."_

"_I'm fine, mom."_

"_Do you want to talk about it?"_

"Natsume!" The crimson-eyed boy picks up, as he zones back into reality once again. "It's time for presents!"

"Be quiet Mikan. Didn't we tell you that he wants to be alone?"

"But isn't that sort of sad?"

"Mikan, you're stupid."

"What would _you_ do if one of your best friend's sad?"

"Leave him alone if that's what he wants."

"That's terrible!"

"You're just naive, idiot."

"C-calm down you two..."

"SHUT IT RUKA!" The two girls retort simultaneously.

A comical vein in Natsume's head throbs , as he eavesdrops on the conversation in the hallway, where the Christmas tree is situated.

"Onii-chan?" An innocent, yet concerned voice says beside him.

Natsume turns to see his younger sister glancing at him in slight confusion, her mind wondering why her older brother hasn't seem to be feeling well these past few days.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"... Yes."

"We're opening presents now."

"So?"

"We have gifts to unwrap."

"You can have them, Aoi."

"But I don't want them. I want you to come with me," Aoi prattles, unintentionally bugging her older brother. After gazing at her for a few more moments, Natsume obliges, with a sigh of defeat. He is about to stand up, when Aoi holds out a hand in front of him, shocking him. Aoi gives a small careful smile, hoping that Natsume will take the hand that she offers.

After a small moment of hesitation, he takes the hand, making Aoi's grin widen.

Hand in hand, Aoi lightly pulls Natsume to the grand Christmas tree situated 7 feet high (the tree was where the ceiling of the ground floor opened up to the second). The tree is filled with bows and ornaments. Laces and lights embroidered the whole tree, adding to the multicoloured stature. Finally, at the upper-most tip, sat an enormous golden star at the top to top it all off (no pun intended).

"Natsume!" The same voice once again cuts Natsume off from his observations.

Natsume reciprocates with another one of his glares, sending Mikan aback.

"U-uhm, I just wanted to say that it's great that you came today, and if you aren't feeling well, that maybe I can h-help..."

"Shut it, blabbermouth," Hotaru teases her once again.

"HO-TA-RU!" Mikan whines as her friend walks up to her.

Ruka joins in on the little circle as well, sweatdropping.

"Of course he isn't going to trust you!"

"What do you mean? I'm good at keeping secrets!"

The three friends stare at her with a raised brow, clearly not believing her.

"... Liar," was all that Hotaru says to continue the argument between the two.

As they are doing so, Ruka takes the opportunity to grab a nicely wrapped, shimmering silver gift from under the tree. He hands it to his best friend, momentarily stunning him. Natsume gives him an incredulous look.

"It's for you Natsume. Merry Christmas!"

"... Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you get me a gift?"

A sweatdrop forms once again on Ruka's forehead.

"_This has to be the stupidest question Natsume has ever asked!"_

"Because you're my best friend, silly."

"..."

"Ruka-kun! Natsume wants to give this to you!" The younger sister sings.

"Eh?"

Aoi hands him the present, which was probably the most extravagantly wrapped compared to the rest under the Christmas tree. With a nice, perfect ribbon stuck on top of it, with the tenderest colour of dark red matching the other external decorations. The soft shining paper blends ever-so-nicely with the string that kept the bow in place. The tape and glue is all tucked away, so that it isn't visible at all.

Ruka's smile stretches his face.

"It's so pretty Natsume, thanks so much!"

"..."

"He says no problem!" Aoi chimes, causing Natsume to glare at her, and Ruka to laugh. In actuality, the two know Natsume is truly enjoying this small exchange.

"Whoa! That gift looks so nice!" Mikan joins in on the converse.

"There's Natsume for ya. I swear his hands are magical." The two girls look playfully at the expert-gift-wrapper.

"Nee, Natsume! Did you get _me_ anything?" Mikan jokes, not really minding if he didn't.

"Yup! He did!" Aoi kneels onto the ground, rapidly searching for the gift as she holds down her skirt from flying up as she sits down suddenly.

The four friends notice her eyes widen just before she reaches her hands out under the tree, and pop out another gift. Aoi takes the wrapped present out of its gift bag.

It isn't as nicely wrapped, Mikan and her friends notice.

"I wrapped it, because Natsume didn't want to!" Aoi says too innocently, causing Ruka to chuckle. Hotaru and Natsume look at each other with a incurious (yet good-humoured) glance, before looking at Mikan, whose jaw dropped to the ground.

"Stupid Natsume! What have I ever done to you~! Why didn't you want to wrap my gift?"

"So annoying," Natsume mutters with tease as he plugs his ears from her voice.

"You meanieee!"

"Mikan-nee-san, I wrapped it because I wanted to. Natsume just said that afterwards for some reason," Aoi says after she did her light giggle.

"Oh. I see then. Well, Can I open it now?"

"Sure, if you want!" Aoi hollers gleefully.

Mikan momentarily awes at the arrangement of the present, before ripping the wrapping paper. (She doesn't have the patience to carefully open the gift, for goodness sake).

Apart from the siblings, the friends look at the gift with amazement.

"That's... the prettiest... snow globe I've ever seen in my life!" Mikan shouts with excitement, holding the gift against her chest, as if it is worth millions of dollars.

"It's great that you like it!" Aoi shouts with happiness gleaming on her face.

"Oh, mine is next!" Mikan says as she passes her gift to Aoi.

The exchange of gifts, astonished faces, smiles and laughs goes on for another half an hour. The parents talk in the kitchen with light wine (except for the drivers of the cars that they were going to depart this large dwelling with) while the snow falls down lightly outside. They chat whole-heartedly, glancing and delighted when they regard their attention to their children every so often.

Soon enough, it is time for the last gift to be swapped: Mikan's turn to give her gift to Natsume.

"Here, Natsume," she says as she hands him the gift with a bit of hesitation. Mikan opens her mouth to say something more, but then shakes her head quickly. Natsume raises a brow when she did so. "Just see what's inside," is all the brunette says in the end.

It was in a simple gift bag, so Natsume didn't need to fuss around with the wrapping. He takes the tissue off from the top, and takes the gift out of the bag. He can't help but widen his eyes.

"_Look, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to drop your book in the lake. I swear! I was holding it, but then someone accidentally bumped into me and dropped it!"_

"_... It's fine."_

"_I know that it's your favourite, and you bought it overseas and stuff, so... oh! I have some money in my pocket right now, and—"_

"_Mochiage. No."_

"_But—"_

"_It's okay."_

"_No, it's not! I promised that I'd take care of it, but in the end, it resulted in the exact opposite!"_

"_Mochiage. Are you sorry?"_

"_Of course!"_

"_Then shut it."_

"I thought that you might like this book, since it seems to really suit you. We were really lucky to grab the last one, and the tip of the book cover is a bit messed up, so they gave us a discount. Without that, I don't think my dad would've bought it!" Mikan jokes.

She and the others wait for a response from the receiver, only to get nothing, but a stoic look from him.

"_It's the exact same book that my friend accidentally ruined..."_

"Do you not like it, Natsume-kun?"

"_Since we bought it overseas and we were in a rush, we just grabbed the one that every customer tampered with, so it was all scratched. This one is in a way better condition..."_

"Natsumeee! If you don't like it, the gift receipt is still in th—" Mikan halts immediately in her sentence when she realizes what her friend is doing.

Natsume is ripping up the gift receipt into miniscule pieces, then tossing it into the garbage can.

"Wha—" Mikan cannot seem to register what he is doing.

Natsume hugs the book lightly, and gives a small embarrassed expression.

"T-thanks," he mumbles really quietly, and then speed-walks away to the den, the friends assume to read the book that she has bought him.

Mikan glances at the figure in the room who is attentively reading the book, the same expression on her face is prevalent.

"M-Mikan?" Ruka says with uncertainty.

"_What's going on here?" _The three friends all think.

"Natsume likes the book?" Mikan mentions absent-mindlessly.

"Of course, stupid."

"He likes it?"

"Y-yes?" Ruka raises a brow.

"HE LIKES IT!" She shouts loudly, making her friends beside her plug their ears, and the parents startled.

"M-Mikan, are you alright?" Ruka stutters.

"Yup!" She quickly exclaims before running to the young lad. "Natsumeeee-kunn!"

"Come on Hotaru, let's go see them," Ruka ushers.

"... Sure." With that, Ruka holds Hotaru's hand (causing her to blush a slight bit), and she is about to walk away when a small hand tugs on the lace of her shirt.

She turns around to see that it is Natsume's little sister.

"What?"

"Are you Ruka's girlfriend?"

Ruka's and Hotaru's jaws drops in shock. Shortly afterwards, they redden once again in embarrassment, before denying it sharply.

"NO!"

Ruka grabs the confused sister, and they awkwardly walk to Natsume's and Mikan's side.

Unbeknownst to them, the parents have watched the whole scene.

"Aoi is so cute!" Kaoru squeals.

"I know!" Her husband adds with the same feeling.

"Guys..." Yuka stammers, for some odd reason a little fearful of the sparkling parents. "Uhh... what should we do, hon?" She asks her husband who is sitting right beside her.

"We should start planning who to invite for their wedding," Yukihira smirks. Yuka's eye twitches, and a vein throbs on her head. She sticks a fist up, and punches her husband with it in the stomach.

"NOT FUNNY!"

The parents laugh at the two quarrelling adults, while the five children all share Natsume's favourite book.

* * *

"Kids! Time to go!"

"Yeees!" They all hear in chorus.

"Did you guys have fun today?" Yuka asks the children.

"Yep," Aoi, Ruka and Mikan agree. The parents don't need to hear a reply to know that Hotaru and Natsume did as well.

"Since you guys are all going to go to the same middle school later on, you will be seeing each other much more often!"

"REALLY?" Mikan exclaims. "YES!"

"But for now, we have to go. It's getting late."

As they slowly empty the house, it is now down to two families, where the parents are still chatting.

"I'm glad you like the gift, Natsume-kun," Mikan starts, gazing at the boy who is just looking at her with an emotionless demeanour.

"Hn," is all he utters.

"You'll come again, right?"

"Definitely!" Aoi comments. "I'll make him come!"

"You better come too, Aoi!"

"Of course!"

That is the last quick exchange of words before they proceed out the door, into the snowy night.

* * *

Yuka closes the door, and heaves a large sigh, the other members of the family not sure if it's a sigh of relief or sadness.

"Yuka?"

"That was nice, but it was stressful!" Yuka broadcasts.

"It was," Yukihira concurs. "Did you have fun Mikan?"

"Of course! Natsume really really liked the gift we bought him."

"Really?"

"Yep! He ripped up the gift receipt and threw it in the trash!"

The parents give a light-hearted laugh at their daughter's remark.

"What did Natsume give you?"

"Oh!" Before her parents can decipher, she runs to her room, and runs back down.

"Aoi and Natsume bought me the snowglobe!"

The parents awe at the fragile-seeming object, and give eye contact back to their daughter when she speaks once again.

"And there was something else in the bag too." Mikan says as she runs back up the stairs, and back down again.

Yukihira blanches.

"It... can't be?"

"Yes it is! The red-eyed cat!"

Yukihira facepalms, while Yuka looks at the two with a confused expression.

"Honey, are you okay?"

"I can't wait for next year!" Mikan chimes, while the mom agrees, and the dad mutters quietly.

"Clearly, the gift-buying is for Yuka."

* * *

**Sakura-tan: **... And we're done! I might write a third installment for when they're 16-ish, so stick around! (Well, wait another 365 days. XD) Please review, because we love to hear your thoughts about this chapter! :)

**Kyoko-tan: **And she means 366 days, by the way. 2012 is a leap year AHAHA.

**Sakura-tan: **… I knew that.

**Kyoko-tan: **Sure you did. :)

**Kyoko-tan & Sakura-tan: **Happy Holidays! (Visit our blog (homepage on profile) for statuses about our other fanfictions).


	3. At 16 Years Old

Hey everyone! We're back with the final installment of this annual-update series, but this time with Mikan & the gang at 16 (so basically, another 5 years later). I have to warn you though, my attachment to the Gakuen Alice fandom has decreased substantially (for now, perhaps?), so expect possible OOC-nesses.

Anyhow, onto the fanfiction!

**Writer:** Sakura-tan

**Editor:** Kyoko-tan

**Disclaimer:** For one final time for this one-shot series, we don't own Gakuen Alice!

_Elated, was the word that Mikan thought of when the holiday season approached once more. Not only that, but the mere fact of seeing her boyfriend again, after a few months, was just enthralling. This is the final chapter of PM, another 5 years later._

* * *

"So you're done packing everything?"

"_Yes."_

"Are you sure?" the girl asks once more. She closes up her notebook that is filled with countless notes for mathematics. She turns off her desk lamp, making the room almost pitch dark until she casually walks to her bedside lamp and turns that on.

"_Yes." _

"Are you super sure? Because—"

"_Oh for goodness sake, yes Mikan. Even if I forgot something, the host family would be fine with shipping it back to my place."_

Mikan can't help but chuckle as he continues talking. The brunette can just visualize her high school sweetheart draw up an eyebrow as she does so.

"… _Why are you laughing?"_

"Oh nothing. It's just the English accent that I hear when you get frustrated sounds so cute!"

"_... I'm hanging up now."_

"Noo~ Natsume I'm sorry~!" Mikan whines with tease before she calmed down, "Sorry, I'm so excited to see you after so many months!"

"_Hn."_

"Oh I know you miss me too." Mikan continues before Natsume can retort to her remark, "So when does your flight arrive in Japan? Both your family and mine are going to pick you up."

"_Tomorrow night. I can just send you a quick email before I get on my transfer flight."_

"Oh, perfect! I'll see you then, okay?"

"_Yeah."_ There is a small pause in between their conversation before Natsume starts talking once more, _"And drive safely, okay?"_

"Yup, I'm sure sure _my parents_ will do that," Mikan replies with comedic sarcasm. "They're insane if they will let me drive in this weather."

On cue, the brunette draws back the curtains of her sliding glass door in her room. She can distinctly hear the whistling of the wind and snow. It is dark out now, and she can just barely make out the weather outside, save for the small streetlights just farther down her house. The snow is soft enough that it doesn't cause a clamor as it hits the surface of the glass door. Mikan smiles as she sees her last year's imprint of "NATSUME LIKES ME!" on the foggy, iced up window.

"_Right, it's morning where Natsume is, right?"_ Mikan thinks to herself before the said person interrupts her thoughts.

"_If I recall correctly, your parents _are_ insane. I mean, who would let you touch the steering wheel in the first place?"_

"… Gee, thanks." Mikan rolls her eyes. She tosses herself onto her comforter and bundles herself in thick blankets. "Either way, your parents are going to pick us up from our house beforehand. Our car is in repairs."

"_Did you crash it again?"_

"Shut up!"

—PW; G.S—

"Whoa, it's been awhile since you're up before we are, Mikan," Yukihira jokes as he walks down the steps to the kitchen in socks.

"I can't wait to see Natsume!" Mikan exclaims as she dances around the kitchen, happily putting the plate of eggs she made onto the kitchen table. "I can't wait to show him my renovated room!"

"Well you'll have to wait Mikan. He'll probably suffer from an extreme case of jet lag when he gets back," Yuka adds in as she walks into the kitchen as well, her husband giving her a small peck on the cheek. Yuka's mom gives a smile and gives him a quick peck back on his lips. Mikan doesn't even regard it as she has seen it one too many times.

"_Oh right…"_ Mikan thinks to herself, _"New York is 12 hours behind…"_

"Nah, I think Natsume is very capable of dealing with jet lag. He seemed to be fine when he left, right?" Yukihira asks Mikan.

"Yeah, but I called him around mid-afternoon here, meaning it was the middle of the night there. He didn't sound tired at all… which obviously wasn't good," Mikan simply responds as she gives a small chuckle.

"More importantly, why did you call him in the middle of the afternoon when you knew it was the middle of the night there? Did you not know or something?" Yuka raises a brow as she and the other family members sit down at the breakfast table.

"… I didn't know," Mikan admits, "and it didn't help that it was New York, 'the city that never sleeps,' or more like, 'the city where you can never tell the time based on how bright it is outside'," Mikan grumbles as she reminisces.

"Then how did you…?"

"I found out when Natsume told me that he had classes 7 hours from the time of the video chat. Then I said that New York must've been really study-orientated because he's having classes at 12am."

"… _Mikan, you know it's 5am in New York, right?"_

"_Eh?"_

"…"

"_EHHH?!"_

Mikan laughs as she remembers her stupidity. She must've been too excited to talk to Natsume that her mind skipped some of the important facts.

"Then don't forget this time, Mikan. Natsume is probably exhausted from his studies abroad. On top of the tougher classes, he also had the language barrier and cultural differences."

"Yeah, but it's funny now when I talk to him over the phone. Some of the New York accent is slipping into his speech when he's speaking Japanese now!"

"I can imagine… he's been there for… how long?" Yukihira asks as he pours some of the maple syrup onto his pancake.

"Four months. Almost a whole term of school here, basically. And he'll be back for good!" Mikan shouts with a sigh of relief. "The time differences were really hard to get around, you know!"

Yuka and Yukihira laugh as they both think simultaneously, _"Young love is so cute!"_

—PW; S-T—

The ring of the doorbell jerks Mikan happily out of her studies. She drops everything and grabs her purse on her way out the bedroom door. She quickly turns off the light and dashes out of her room, running (not so quietly) down the steps. She gives a quick glance to her parents who has already opened the front door, and gave a quick greeting to who Mikan assumes to be Aoi (the voice simply gives it away).

"Hi! We're here to pick you up to the airport!"

"And we have been expecting you! We'll be out in a snap!" Yuka responds as Yukihira lightly tosses his wife her winter jacket, scarf and leather gloves. Yuka catches it gracefully and almost puts them on as fast as Mikan. Mikan's parents know that their daughter has been waiting far too long for this day, so they both don't want her to wait any longer.

"I'll be in the car!" Mikan hollers as she rushes out the door with her leather boots not even fully zipped up yet.

Soon enough, they are on the express route towards the airport. Mikan just simply glances out the window beside her, amazed at the glowering scenery. Sure, it's all mainly empty with bare snow-covered grasslands, but the numerous lampposts illuminates the road far into the distance.

After all, they are just mere days from Christmas day, so of course there are a lot of decorative lights everywhere; the brunette can see the glowing lights of houses and other ornaments in the distance.

Mikan notices that they are near the airport when she sees the size of planes taking off get larger and larger. Her anxiety just seems to grow; how should she react when she sees her boyfriend again after four months?

The disappearance of lights and the static of the radio helps Mikan realize that they are now in the basement of the airport, just finding an appropriate parking spot to park their van. Aoi, who is in the passenger seat, turns off the radio, making the atmosphere in the car very quiet and tense.

"There," Aoi points towards the driver's (her dad) side just up ahead, and he just simply nods in agreement, and there, Mikan realizes is a free spot.

Once they come to a stop, Aoi's (and Natsume's) dad turns off the car, and Mikan, although giddy, patiently waits for the electronic doors to open, and, not so patiently, jumps out of the car and walks towards the nearest door to the elevators that lead them up to the main floor.

It was almost torture looking at the numbers on the elevator slowly descend as it approaches their floor. Once it does, they hear a "ding", and the door slowly opens. A couple people file out, and Mikan give them a small, "Happy holidays," and a smile (in which the recipients also return) before leaping into the elevator.

Again, the numbers (this time ascending, though) seemed to be taking a million years to change. When it finally hits the desired number, Mikan quickly dashes out the door to the large screen just down the path that shows the flight numbers and arrival/departure time. She starts scanning for the flight that says, "London, England to Tokyo, Japan".

"Oh, here," she hears Aoi voice out as she points to the flight name on the column just next to the brunette.

Mikan's heart drops when she sees the yellow highlighted words.

"… Delayed…?" Mikan mutters.

"Yeah, it's probably because of the blizzard we're having…"

"Of all years to have a blizzard…" Kaoru groans. Tokyo isn't a place to typically have large snowstorms, but this year is one of the years where it has more-than-average amount of snowfall.

"And it says it's expected to arrive at around eleven tonight," Yukihira breaks to them as he points to the expected arrival time that is flashed for just a few ten seconds.

"That's an hour from now!" Yuka exasperates. "Yeah, I agree with you Kaoru. What luck."

"It's better than it being cancelled," Aoi simply responds as she glances around the large, not-so-empty airport. "Why don't we just walk around for a bit then? Then we'll go find a seat to sit and grab a small snack."

Mikan is taken off-guard when Aoi suddenly snatches her forearm, hugging it with both of her own arms. "Let's go, Mikan," she smiles before she says to the other adults, "We can keep in touch with our phones!"

With that, Aoi drags Mikan around the airport. The brunette, although disheartened that she has to wait about an hour longer than planned to see her boyfriend, decides that she really _should_ cheer up… after all, it can be a lot worse.

"Let's go in there!" Mikan happily shouts as she, this time, drags Aoi into a small boutique which sells cute accessories and supplies.

"Hmm, maybe we can get something for Natsume. You know, to welcome him back to Japan," Mikan suggests. Aoi gives a nod in agreement as she surveys this one small row of items, a finger on her lips to show that she's in deep thought.

"What do you think we should give him though?"

"Hmm… an 'I LOVE TOKYO' t-shirt?" Mikan jokes, remembering the picture Natsume sent her through email that said "I LOVE NEW YORK" on it.

The two girls loses track of the time spent in that one small store until Aoi's ringtone resounds throughout the store.

"Hello?" Aoi gives the generic greeting before continuing, "Ah, okay. Yeah. Mhmm. Okay. Bye."

Expecting that they are being called to meet up with their parents to go to the arrival gates, Mikan feels dejected when Aoi continues to survey the items in the store. Aoi gives a small smile when she notices Mikan's playful pout.

"The plane still hasn't arrived yet, and they said that it's being delayed by another fifteen minutes."

"… Well, I guess it's better than it being delayed by another hour then, right?" Mikan looks optimistically at the situation. "At least it gives us more time to look for a welcome gift for him!"

"Mhmm!" Aoi agrees before her eyes light up, seeing something interesting. "Oh, do you think this is good? I don't think you'd find this in New York."

"Ohhhh! It's perfect! It screams Japan. It even has 'Tokyo' engraved on there!" Mikan adds on. "Let's get it!" The brunette snatches out her wallet from her purse as Aoi looks for a boxed, packaged one of what they saw on display.

As they are passing the money to the cashier, Aoi's ringtone goes off again. Slightly unprepared for the phone call, it takes awhile for Aoi to fish through her purse for the phone. Finally, Aoi manages to find her phone, and she picks up without even bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

Mikan's eyes glisten in hope, hopeful that this time they're calling them back to meet up with Natsume. Her suspicions are confirmed as she hears Aoi's responses.

"Yep, we're coming then. Yeah. Platform G? Okay," Aoi finishes before she snaps her phone shut. "Let's go, Natsume had already texted my dad that he's just retrieved his luggage."

The two girls, not noticing the cashier give a small smile as she realizes what is happening, scans a couple small pendants and slips it into Mikan and Aoi's bag that contains their purchased gift.

"Here you go, girls. Thank you for coming," she says as she hands them the bag.

"Oh, thank you," Aoi says as the cashier gently places the bag into their possession. The two walk out, not noticing the small gift the cashier has left them, and the smile that the cashier has on her face.

"_Ahh, young love is so cute!"_

Mikan and Aoi walk hastily to the platform the parents and Natsume are. When they get there, they see the four parents waving frantically at them, indicating that Natsume is probably coming through the gates at any moment now.

Mikan and Aoi jog to the others, momentarily forgetting what they had in their hands. The six of them talk; Aoi tells them the item she has picked out for Mikan to buy to her brother.

"Oh, he'll love that," Kaoru gives a reassurance that comforts the brunette. Aoi gives her a thumbs-up, which Mikan gives back as well.

The moment Mikan turns her eyes to the gate, she notices the unforgettable jet-black hair popping up. Time freezing momentarily, her eyes widen, unbelieving.

Is he finally here? In front of her, _really_ in front of her?

"Natsume?" Mikan whispers, the other five just barely able to hear her.

Once she notices the familiar crimson eyes, Mikan shouts, alarming the boy from his handheld device.

"NATSUME!" The brunette, before anything can stop her (not that they will), happily runs towards the surprised boy.

"Mi—"

"Natsume! Welcome back!" Mikan hollers in glee, the familiar smell of the boy telling her that there is no mistaking it; her boyfriend of one year, her counterpart, her high school lover, is finally back from his studies abroad. "You have no idea how much I looked forward to hugging you like this!"

Mikan's smile only widens when she hears the chuckle from her boyfriend.

"I missed you too, Mikan."

With that, time seems to slow down. As Mikan glances up at her boyfriend, he puts his hand under her chin, and brings her forward for a small kiss. The brunette, not surprised as all, just closes her eyes, a smile forming on her lips.

The parents' eyes gawk open, while Aoi is on the verge of squealing. They knew that Natsume and Mikan have been looking forward to seeing each other, but they were not expecting… a kiss?!

Natsume and Mikan, after a couple more seconds, break apart. Their blushes were visible on both of their cheeks, a small embarrassed smile on both of their faces.

"Let's go back home," Mikan concludes as she reaches for Natsume's hand, in which Natsume gladly takes hold of. The two walk towards the other five family members while Mikan tells Natsume of what he has missed.

—PW; G.S—

Mikan blushes as she sits awkwardly in the van next to Natsume, whose head is lying on her shoulder.

Well, she asked for it anyways.

A few minutes into the car ride, Mikan could see the fatigue on Natsume's face. She asked him why he was so tired, since he should've be the opposite (it's the afternoon technically in New York, after all). He just said that in order to adjust to the time change, he forced himself not to sleep on the plane ride. Knowledgeable with math, Mikan realized that that means that he hadn't slept for over 24 hours. Realizing that he was probably exhausted, with a bite of lip, she suddenly grabs Natsume's head and brings it towards her shoulder.

"Wha— "

"Sleep, Natsume. It's almost midnight."

Too tired to argue (either way, Mikan was right), he just complied and closed his eyes. He fell asleep in no time.

Mikan gives another small smile as she glances at her sleeping boyfriend, not noticing that Aoi, in the passenger seat, is looking at them through the side mirror of the car.

The rest of the car ride is silent, while Mikan just simply gazes out with bright eyes out the window. She can't help but think,

"_Why do the lights seem brighter than before?"_

Slowly, as they approach their destination, the brunette's eyes also start to close. She grasps onto her boyfriend's hand before she falls into a light sleep.

Aoi smiles as she sees the couple behind her sleeping peacefully. The crimson-haired lady brings out her flip-phone, and flips to the "camera" application. She eyes her dad, nudging her head to the sleeping couple, before he just gives a silent nod. Aoi unbuckles her seatbelt, and just turns around, bringing up her phone to eye-level. Making sure flash is off and increasing the exposure, she attempts to stay as still as possible (for quality's sake) when she sees her desired scene in front of her. Then, with a click of her phone, she sits back into her seat and buckles back up.

Then on her phone, she brings up her messages.

**To: Imai Hotaru, Nogi Ruka, Hijiri Youichi**

**Re: [No subject]**

**Look at the reunited couple! Aren't they just so adorable?**

Attaching the picture, Aoi gives a proud smile before sending the message.

**Message sent!**

—PW; G.S—

Both Ruka and Hotaru groan when they hear the simultaneous sound of their phone vibrating. What makes it worse is that Ruka's phone just happens to have been left on the edge of his bedside table falls off the table. He scrambles to pick it up when he realizes what has fallen and looks at the bright screen:

**One Unread Message**

**From: Hyuuga Aoi**

**Sweep Screen to Unlock**

"Why in the world is Aoi texting us at this hour?" Ruka grunts as he opens his messages window.

"Look," Hotaru says before she tosses her phone from her bed to the other side of the room; her boyfriend's bed.

Ruka just drops his phone, and glances at the glowing screen of his girlfriend's. He can't help but smile a ridiculous grin (that Hotaru defines it as) when he sees the image that Aoi has sent them, "Clearly, despite the four months, their relationship didn't falter."

"I'd be surprised if it did," Hotaru simply responds as she lies on her bed, staring at the ceiling of her room before turning to her side, glancing at Ruka who is still kneeling on his bed, glancing at the screen of her phone.

Since winter has started, Ruka has been staying over at Hotaru's place, as his parents had to go on a business trip in which they won't be back until the day before Christmas Eve. Hotaru, completely shocking both her and Ruka's parents, had insisted that Ruka stay over at her house. The parents didn't refuse, as they trusted the two mature teens. Not only that, but a couple days later, Hotaru asked if they could bring Ruka's bed (the one he was going to be sleeping for the duration at her house), to her room.

With slight hesitation, Hotaru's parents had let her do so, after a quick confirmation with Ruka's parents who were also in a slight shock before obliging.

"Nee, Ruka," Hotaru asks as she turns to her side, facing Ruka's bed.

"Hmm?"

"If we were in their situation, our relationship wouldn't falter either, right?"

Ruka snaps Hotaru's phone shut, a little taken off-guard at her question. He turns her head to make eye contact with her.

"I guess we wouldn't know until it happens, right?"

Hotaru was taken aback by her boyfriend's response, but then he continues.

"I believe that when we are faced with something like Mikan and Natsume's situation, it's at the point where we are capable to handle it." Ruka gives his girlfriend a smile.

"What makes you think that?"

"Every relationship needs to have challenges, or you will spend forever not knowing how deeply you love the other, right?"

Hotaru is left speechless at his words.

"Anyways, let's go to bed. We have to go gift shopping for the gathering in a couple days," Ruka finishes as he sets the two phones back onto the bedside table in between their bed, and tucks himself in.

"Goodnight, Ruka," Hotaru simply says as she shuffles in her bed, finding a comfortable position.

"Goodnight, Hotaru."

—PW; G.S—

"I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb," Natsume grumbles as he takes a small piece of turkey from his plate and puts it into his mouth.

"Considering how you never admit that you stick out even in Japan, if you admit that you did over at New York, it must've been really awkward."

"… I'm like everyone else here. I don't know what you're saying."

"Oh come on Natsume, who else, other than you and your mom and Aoi have natural crimson eyes and jet black hair… and look so good in it?!" Mikan exasperates.

Natsume facepalms at the brunette's comment, taking in the compliment that he thinks was unintentional.

It is now Christmas Eve, and five families are sitting around the dinner table. Despite this yearly tradition, just a couple years ago, one more family has joined it.

"Youichi, would you like some peas?"

"Okay. Thank you."

Having moved to their neighbourhood a couple years ago, Aoi chose to be his partner to help him get accustomed to the school. There, he met Mikan and the gang, and became closer friends with all of them.

Now, Mikan and the others are not surprised if Aoi and Youichi are going to be the next future couple.

"Now that Natsume is back, and has recovered from the jet lag, what are you six going to do for the remainder of the winter season?" Kaoru asks as she brings the salad towards Ruka.

"Probably hosting a bunch of sleepovers," the recipient of the salad responds. "Actually, my parents are thinking that we should all go to our cottage up north for a bit."

"… Cottage on Christmas day, meaning, the middle of winter? If I recall correctly, there's no air conditioning at a cottage, let alone heating." Hotaru raises a brow.

"Well, our cottage has electricity and outlets, so we can just bring a few heaters. Plus, I think we're only staying there for one night," Ruka's dad inputs. The mom just responds with a nod and "mhmm".

"I'm in!" Mikan declares. She glances at her boyfriend who doesn't seem to be engaged in the conversation. He is about to put a small spoonful of soup into his mouth when his girlfriend yanks that arm up into the air. "Oh, and Natsume's in too!"

The contents in the spoon spills onto Natsume's head. Mikan, noticing what she has just done, blanches.

"…"

"Ahh! I'm sorry, so sorry Natsume!"

A burning aura slowly surrounds the crimson-eye lad, but he glances with emotionless eyes at the brunette, who twitches whenever she sees her boyfriend move even an inch.

"I-I'll go grab a wet and dry towel!" Mikan stutters and she dashes out the room to do exactly that.

Natsume heaves a heavy sigh, while the other onlookers just give a small sweatdrop. He stands up and leaves the room, following the path of his girlfriend before muttering, "… I could've gone to get that myself…"

With those two gone, the rest of the table sit in a small awkward silence.

"… Don't you remember how Mikan did about the same thing to Aoi ten years ago?" Ruka starts, before Hotaru joins in.

"Man, how do you even remember that?" Hotaru raises a brow, noticing in the corner of her eye that Aoi is talking to Youichi, probably filling him in to what happened. Youichi responds with smile and laugh.

"I guess I have a brain to remembering these things?" Ruka sweatdrops with a chuckle.

"And not a brain for your biology and chemistry."

"Hey! In my defense, I passed the last biology test!" Ruka retorts with a pout.

"With a 65 percent." Hotaru sticks her tongue out, and then, her too, runs out of the room as she braces for her boyfriend's wrath.

"Hey, get back here!" Ruka hollers as he leaves the room to chase after her.

"… So, another couple is out…!" Yukihira hollers, while Yuka slaps him over the head.

"Shut up, _dear_," Yuka responds with particular emphasis on the last word, which is etched with sarcasm.

"But other than the married couples, there's still one more couple in the room…" Kaoru smirks. The other parents sweatdrop, feeling that they see that familiar smirk one too many times on the face a particular teenage boy.

"… Eh?" Aoi says as she blushes countless shapes of red, not being the dense one and seeing where her mom is getting that from. "Wait, Youichi and I aren't…"

The crimson-eyed girl turns to the boy who is staring in confusion at the parents, before turning away.

"I don't get it."

Aoi facepalms.

"Aoi and I aren't a couple."

Aoi's jaw drops as she feels a hundred arrows pierce her heart.

"Because I like Aoi, but I don't know if she likes me."

"…" The parents look at the younger "couple" in front of them with amusement.

Aoi stutters in her words and actions, her mouth open but not emitting any sound.

"E-e-h, u-h-uh-m, Yo-u-u-ichi…"

"What, Aoi?"

"Y-yo-you li-like m-m-me?"

"… Didn't I tell you that yesterday?"

"… No?" Aoi composes herself, but internally, she is flailing and is digging through her mind to remember the confession that she "forgot".

"… Oh wait, whoops. That was my dream from last night."

"…"

The parents burst out laughing,

"Wow, I'd never thought to imagine a confession happen like this."

"Me neither!" Mikan adds in as she pops back into the kitchen room with a towel in hand. Natsume is walking alongside her, drying his wet hair. The parents assume that Mikan just washed Natsume's hair in the sink, judging from his wet hair and semi-wet t-shirt and absence of a sweater. Just behind them is Ruka and Hotaru, who seem to have also resolved their argument, just casually walking side-by-side. "It's so obvious that you like each other, Aoi, Youichi."

"Just get together already," Natsume responds with a defeated tone, "Youichi's probably the only guy I'll approve Aoi to be with anyways."

"Who are you to decide?" Aoi teases as she sticks out a tongue.

"An overprotective brother," Mikan responds with the same tone as she gets elbowed in the gut by the brother in question. "Ouch! That hurt, Natsume!"

Natsume just sticks his own tongue out as he throws the towel onto her head. Once the two older high school couples sit down in the seat, they all continue happily chatting.

Unbeknownst to them, Aoi and Youichi clasp each others' hands with their own, a small smile and blush on both of their faces.

—PW; G.S—

"It's so cooooold!" Mikan whines as she walks out of the van.

"It's probably because you're wearing a skirt when it's -5°C." Natsume rolls his eyes as he takes off his winter coat and tosses it over Mikan's shoulder as everyone files out of their vehicles and walk down a path… following Ruka's family, of course.

Mikan realizes what he is doing, "Wai—"

"It's not even that cold out. I don't see how you're freezing in this weather," Natsume continues, as he zips up his thick sweater.

The brunette finally gets the hint, "… Thank you, Natsume," she says as she catches up to him and gives him a small and quick peck on the cheek.

"… Stupid," Natsume mutters when he turns his head the other way.

"I know I am," Mikan responds, sticking out her tongue.

The sky, grey with clouds, just threatens to snow. The path has occasional pools of ice, where some of them almost slip on, but thankfully, none do.

In a matter of another couple of minutes, they reach Ruka and his family's cottage.

Mikan awes at the large size of it. She knows that Ruka's family has a slightly above average income, but this is simply… astounding.

A cottage slightly larger than the average one, has four bedrooms upstairs, a small kitchen, and three washrooms; two on the upper floor and one on the main floor. There was a couple large windows surrounding two opposite sides of the cottage, and even one on the ceiling.

"Whoa, this place is amazing!" Mikan shouts in glee as she surveys the surroundings.

"We just recently got it, so we wanted to show it to all of you as soon as possible," Ruka's mom explains. "But instead of awing which we can do later, who is going to sleep where tonight? We have four bedrooms upstairs, so each pair of parents can pair up with another and same with the kids."

"Okay, then we can go with Yuka and Yukihira," Kaoru points to her husband and herself, then at Mikan's parents. They nod in agreement.

"Then we'll go with them," Ruka's parents point to themselves and then at Hotaru's parents.

"Then how about us?" Youichi's mom asks the others. "I don't think the kids would want to room with us." The parents chuckle.

"We don't mind," Aoi pipes up, "Youichi and I won't mind sharing a room with you, right?"

Youichi just simply shrugs his shoulders. His parents aren't the most embarrassing ones, and since he and Aoi are a couple now, Aoi's going to have to deal with his parents anyways if their relationship lasts for the rest of their lives.

"Then you four will room together. Obviously you guys are fine with that," Kaoru simply remarks before she picks up her small knapsack of clothing. "Let's go. We have a day ahead of us to do things other than standing around."

"Yep!" A bunch of them say in unison.

—PW; S-T—

"Ahh, watch out Hotaru!" Mikan yelps as she almost crash-lands on her best friend. She still falls nonetheless, though.

"Watch where you're going Mikan!" Hotaru growls back as Aoi helps her stand up from her fall butt-first on the ice.

"Blame Natsume! He pushed me!"

"That's because you were in the way," Natsume responds with his usual stoic tone.

"Pushing doesn't help…" Mikan sighs as she continues staying seated on the ice.

They—meaning Ruka and his family, a couple weeks after they bought the property—had carved a skating rink on top of the frozen snow, and are happy that it is still nice and smooth.

"Let's play some hockey, girls versus guys!" Aoi shouts as she picks up some of the hockey sticks from the side. "Where's the puck, Ruka?"

"Oh, it's over there. I'll get it," Ruka replies as he skates over to the other side.

"Thanks!" Aoi passes a hockey stick to each person.

"Uhh, Aoi," Mikan starts as the said person put a hockey stick into her hand, "I'm not sure if this is necessarily a good idea..."

"Eh? Why not?"

"Maybe because Hotaru and I can't skate?" Mikan responds with obvious sarcasm. She notices Hotaru standing beside her opening her mouth to retort, but then closes it when she realizes that it's true.

"... That's true. Then how should we split up the teams then?" Aoi passes a hockey stick to her brother who takes it with little care.

"Natsume can join Hotaru and I, and you three can team up," Mikan suggests. The crimson eyed-lad just simply raises a brow.

"Why me?"

"Because you're my boyfriend?"

Natsume stares at her with a, "That's the stupidest reason I've ever heard" look.

"And because you're probably better than all of us at hockey. Isn't it USA's national sport or something?"

"... That's Canada, smart one," Natsume growls.

"Well, you probably prefer facing your sister rather than be on the same team as her, right?" Mikan glances simply at her boyfriend.

"... Can't deny that. Let's play." Natsume skates off to the other end of the rink, while Mikan mouths a silent "yes!"

"Okay, then I'll be the referee," Mikan and the others hear a familiar female voice.

"Mom? Do you even know anything about hockey?" Mikan raises a brow as she slowly skates towards her team's side of the rink. "And aren't you busy cooking lunch?"

"Making sandwiches, yes Mikan. Either way, I only meant being a referee so I can just drop the puck at the center. I'm going back inside afterwards; it's freezing out here!"

"... Oh," Mikan says as she and the others sweatdrop. "I guess that's fine then."

"So who's going to start off?" Ruka asks. "I can go on my side."

"I'll start," Mikan volunteers, while Hotaru and Natsume shrug, not really caring who is. "I guess since there's so few of us, there's not really a point in setting actual roles for each person, right?"

"Yeah. Let's just play," Youichi responds. No one denies it.

Yuka, very carefully, slides to the center of the rink with her winter boots. She counts down, and then drops the puck.

Miraculously, the brunette manages to snatch the puck before the blond teen, though none of them are too surprised. They all believe that Mikan is a natural at sports when she really tries.

"Here Hotaru!" the brunette shouts as she passes it to the dark-haired lady.

"Yep!" the girl hollers back as she attempts to catch it. Then with a quick interception, the puck is out of her possession when Aoi sweeps in and takes it into hers. She rallies down the (small) rink, but the brunette grabs it from her possession.

Mikan sees her boyfriend on the corner of her eye, and, when she sees it deem fit, she passes the puck to him.

"Natsume!" she shouts as she passes it onto him, and the crimson eyed-lad takes it with little difficulty. Then with a quick hit, the puck slides past Youichi, in between the two pylons.

"Goal!" Mikan and Hotaru yell with excitement.

"Didn't you say that you can't skate, Mikan?"

"... It's easier with a hockey stick?"

"You're amazing when you put your mind to it, Mikan," Youichi says as he gives a smile.

"... Thanks," the brunette gives an awkward grin, not used to the compliments before she claps her gloved hands together, "Wanna play again?"

"Best of 3?" Ruka suggests.

"Sure!" Aoi and Mikan holler simultaneously.

In the end, they continued playing even after three games. Shouting for the puck and chasing each other down the rink, they only stopped when they started joking around with the puck and started fooling around.

"I think we've been on the ice for too long," Ruka gives a small laugh as he glances around at the others, lying on the ice that has clearly been overused. There are an endless amount of scratches, some so deep that a couple of them had almost tripped over them when they were still playing hockey.

"Then how about sledding? I think I saw a hill a few minutes from here down that path," Aoi suggests as she points further up north from their residence.

"Do we even have any sleds?" Natsume asks, sitting beside Mikan, while she's lying on the snow. He continues poking his girlfriend's face with his hands (he removed his gloves a little while ago).

"I'm not surprised if we do," Mikan adds on, "you had skates, hockey sticks... everything!"

"Yeah, we do. It's somewhere in the cottage for sure, but where it is _in_ the cottage I have no idea."

"Let's go find it then," the brunette declares as she sits up, slipping her boyfriend's hands in hers. "Your hands are is freezing, Natsume!"

—PW; G.S—

With that, the six friends went back into the cottage, and after much scouring through boxes, they finally find two sleds that Ruka's family brought from their house. Then, putting on their winter gear once more, the six friends went down a familiar path, joking around along the way there.

Once they hit the hill, they did janken to decide the order in which they will proceed down, sometimes going down on one sled in groups of two.

"The sled's turning to the side!" Mikan shouts as she grabs onto Hotaru as if her life depends on it.

"Calm down Mikan, and you're holding me too tightly! I can barely breathe!"

The two girls decided to find the steepest part of the hill and the iciest part as well, making the ride much faster than they intended to.

"Waaa! Now I won't be able to get married!"

"You're not going to die, stupid!" Hotaru growls as she attempts to control the speed. "But we will if you continue holding onto me that tightly!"

"Fine fine." The brunette uses all her willpower to tell herself to loosen her hold despite fearing for her life.

Finally, after another few moments, she feels the sled starting to slow down. Slowly opening her eyes, she sees that they have made it safely down the hill.

"... Now was that so bad, Mikan?" Hotaru gives a sarcastic response.

"... It could've been worse, so I'm not complaining," Mikan retorts with a similar witty remark. The brunette thinks that her boyfriend's attitude is starting to rub off onto her.

"You better not."

"Anyways, let's walk back up the hill for another run!"

"Don't bother. I think it's getting dark soon. We have to get back to the cottage or our parents will worry about our safety We'll pass the message onto the others when they come down."

"They're coming down this hill too?"

"... Yeah, and hopefully not cutting off the others' breathing in the process."

"They probabl—hey!" Mikan gives her classical pout, cheeks puffed in annoyance before muttering, "I knew I should've gone down with Aoi instead."

"... I think she'd react the same way, Mikan."

"Why you—" the brunette stops mid-sentence when she hears a small high pitched scream.

"Ahhh! Turn, turn Ruka!"

Mikan and Hotaru sweatdrop, feeling an extreme case of déjà vu.

"Well, at least we're not the only ones," Mikan gives an embarrassed chuckle as they see the next pair coming down the hill, Ruka on the front and Aoi grabbing onto Ruka's waist.

Hotaru simply shrugs as they continue observing the pair sledding down, coming towards them until they come to a complete stop.

"For a small girl Aoi, you hold onto someone tight! I saw my life flash before my eyes just now!" Ruka groans as he gives a couple small coughs.

"Join the club; I saw figments of my deceased grandparents when I was coming down." Hotaru rolls her eyes.

"I said I was sorry!" Mikan wails.

"Oh oh, let's see Youichi and Natsume's test run then," Aoi pokes them all lightly in the stomach. "I think Natsume's sitting behind Youichi."

"That's a surprise," Mikan said in astonishment, "I'd expect Natsume to steer this time, especially since this hill is the steepest and iciest of all of the ones we were on."

"Whatever, I think they know what they're doing anyways," Hotaru responds.

"Go Natsume and Youichi!" the brunette cheers.

Then shortly afterwards, they see two detailed dots slowly descend the large hill, no sound being emitted. They still don't hear any even when they get onto the same elevation as the remaining four friends.

Mikan and the others just simply gawk at them.

Natsume and Youichi, not understanding what is going on, just raises a brow.

"What?"

—PW; S-T—

"Wow, if it weren't for the lack of heating, I wouldn't know that we were at a cottage. The food feels like home!" Mikan deeply inhales, taking in the mouth-watering smell.

"Mikan, you're drooling," Youichi points out, grabbing a napkin from the table and wiping it.

"Wow, somebody's hungry," Yukihira jokes as he comes into the kitchen with a plate of potatoes. The families had decided to do a mixture of western and traditional foods; potatoes and turkey and hotpot.

"Mashed potatoes!" Mikan hollers in excitement.

"Yes yes, Mikan," Yukihira says as he sets it down, purposely on the other side of the table... the farthest away from the brunette.

"... Dad..." Mikan whines.

"Wow, Mikan's such a baby when she doesn't get her food," Hotaru harshly teases, in which she receives another one of her friend's pouts.

Then, shocking the rest of the people in the room, Natsume gets up and, using his plate, loads some mashed potato onto it and walks towards his seat, and sets the plate in front of his girlfriend. He simply snatches Mikan's empty plate from her spot, putting it in front of himself.

"Thank you Natsume!" Mikan hugs Natsume tightly (Natsume's cheeks turning to a small, very slight tinge of pink), before digging in.

"Gross," Hotaru mutters before Ruka flicks her in the face. The violet-eyed girl just simply eyes her boyfriend, who eyes her back with an innocent look.

"That's just to shut her up," Natsume simply responds. Just before Mikan is about to take a large chunk of mashed potato into her mouth, she just barely hears a small stomach growl. Turning her head to her boyfriend, she can just scarcely see a small embarrassed look on his face.

Not wanting to make her boyfriend feel uncomfortable, Mikan just simply snatches his (formally her) plate, and dumps a spoonful of mashed potatoes onto it and sets it back in front of him. Natsume raises a brow at her actions.

"I don't want to spoil my appetite for the fishbowls," Mikan simply says as she sticks out her tongue.

"..." Natsume gradually picks up his spoon and dips it lightly into his food, and then takes a bit into his mouth.

"Ahh you're so cute, Natsume!" Mikan squeals, startling the other guests in the room, and they stare funnily at the couple. The crimson eyed-lad, noticing the stares, just elbows his girlfriend, really hard. "Ouch, that hurts!"

The other members just start laughing at their quarrel, while getting onto the rest of their business, which includes laying out the rest of the food onto the table, settling into their seats and digging into their Christmas meal.

—PW; G.S—

Finally, it's midnight, and everyone at the cottage gets ready for bed. The plates already cleaned are drying on the drying rack, the tables wiped, garbage thrown out, and leftovers wrapped up and put away, the only thing they now need to do is to do their regular nightly routine.

"Good night," the teens say to the parents as they are getting to bed.

Soon enough, all of the guests are asleep, save for one brunette... or so she thinks.

Mikan is sitting inside on the floor of the cottage with a hot mug of water, a thick blanket around her in front of the fireplace. She can't seem to get to bed despite the activities she and her friends participated in. She just has simply too much on her mind.

She doesn't realize how deep in thought she is in until she feels a hot patch on her face. The brunette jumps from the sudden heat. She whips her head around to see her boyfriend standing next to her sitting position, a hot mug similar to hers touching her face.

"You scared me," Mikan whispers with a small shock but then composes herself, "Can't sleep?"

Her boyfriend just responds with a nod and then sits down next to her. Mikan passes some of the blanket to her boyfriend, and he adjusts it so that both of them are happily and comfortable in it.

"Have too much on your mind?" Natsume finally speaks, in which the brunette responds with a nod as well. "Is it stressful?"

"No, actually. It's the opposite. Lately, I've been thinking so much about how I'm blessed with everything; an amazing family, boyfriend, friends..."

"Don't forget food," Natsume adds on, in which Mikan chuckles.

"Haha, yeah, that too."

"Then it's fine if you can't sleep... if that's what you're thinking about."

"Yeah. I'll have plenty of time to sleep for the next week before classes start up again," the hazel-eyed teen jokes as she takes a small sip of the water. "Aren't you proud of me Natsume? I finished all of my homework before you came back from New York, and I'm above average in all of my classes."

"Mhmm," Natsume simply agrees as he feels Mikan put her head onto his shoulder. "I'm elated that you're actually passing."

"Oh shush. If I put my mind to something, I can actually do pretty well."

"I wasn't disagreeing. You just barely passed a couple of your courses last year."

"I think when you left to New York, I realized that the only way to keep up with you for a bit is to improve and work harder on my studies, at least."

"It doesn't hurt to think about these things, I guess. Just don't stress too much."

"Yes mom."

"..."

"Yeah yeah, I know. Don't worry; if I do stress about my studies, I'll be sure to tell you."

"Mikan."

"Natsume." Mikan replies back with the same tone as she makes eye contact with her boyfriend, whose eyes are swarming with a small hint of worry.

"If you think that I'm da—"

"No Natsume, you don't understand. I want to do well, not just to keep up with your intellect, because I know that that's impossible."

"Mika—"

"And don't you dare feel bad about being naturally smart. I'll have you know, another thing that I've been feeling extremely grateful about is how far I have come regarding my studies. Despite our differences in intellect, that's not the sole reason I'm trying so hard. It's because I have the opportunity to work to the level I am now, and even more than that."

"... That was actually well spoken, polka-dots."

"... Oh shush, and can you stop calling me that?"

"... No," Natsume responds as he sticks out his tongue. Then his attention switches from the brunette to the scene behind her. "Look." The crimson-eyed lad nudges her.

"Eh?" Mikan voices as she looks the way that her boyfriend is telling her before she gasps.

There is a brilliant, perfect light snowfall just outside their window. Despite the absence of a spectrum of lights that one usually sees in the city, there is only the natural light of the moon and from another few cottages that have their lights on as well.

"It's... beautiful," Mikan whispers.

"Yeah, it is," Natsume responds as he stands up. Taking Mikan's hand and pulling her up, they both sit on the windowsill their socked-up feet touching each other. They glance at each other with a small blush on their cheeks.

"Nee, Natsume, the scene outside... doesn't it look almost exactly like the Tokyo Snowglobe I gave you when you came back from New York?"

"Yeah."

"... Merry Christmas, Natsume," Mikan says, as she gives her boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek. She recalls the exchange of gifts at the airport.

Her mind can still visualize the jewelry Natsume had put on her neck. It had a silver, elegantly crafted pendant with a half-heart piece attached to the chain. And the owner of the other half? Well, who else can it be? The necklace was clearly around his neck.

"Merry Christmas Mikan," Natsume replies as he holds her hand and brings her in for another kiss, but on the lips. As they sit back, with their backs on the windowsill, they give each other a caring, wide smile.

The dim lights from the room perfectly hit the necklaces they both have around their neck. They each have two pendants... one being a half heart, and the other...

…. A silver, glistening snowflake pendant that they personally attached onto their chain.

_[Peppermint Winters, Fin]_

* * *

And that is the final chapter of Peppermint Winters. I hope you enjoyed this annually-updating fanfiction. :)

_- Sakura-tan, one half of Golden Starlight_, _goldenstarlight -dot- wordpress -dot- com._


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